The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has recommended the names of Heena Sidhu and Ankur Mittal for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Asian Games bronze medallist Heena, in 2013, became the first Indian pistol shooter to win a gold medal in an ISSF World Cup finals when she won the 10m Air Pistol event.

The 29-year-old has also won a silver medal in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event, and a gold medal in the women’s 25m Air Pistol event. In 2014, she was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award. Ankur, on the other hand, had won a gold medal in Double Trap event at 2018 ISSF World Shooting Championships at Changwon, South Korea. He also won a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships.

In the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, he won a bronze medal in the Double Trap Shooting (Men) event. Last year, he was conferred with the Arjuna Award. Earlier, shooters Abhinav Bindra, Anjali Bhagwat, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Vijay Kumar, Gagan Narang, Ronjan Sodhi and Jitu Rai had been conferred with the prestigious Khel Ratna Award. Besides, the NRAI has also recommended the names of Anjum Moudgil, Shahzar Rizvi and Om Prakash Mitharwal for the Arjuna Award while Jaspal Rana and Ronak Pandit have been recommended for the Dronacharya Award.